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Wednesday, 23 December 2009

As promised, a quick post about the table gifts I have made for Christmas this year. I had a bee in my bonnet about Chinese take-out boxes and found a template on the internet here. Enlarged it so it was big enough to for my gifts to fit in, then cut it out of glittery paper. I made some name labels using photos from my library to go with the flowers I have ordered for Christmas and after filling up with goodies (including a fortune cookie!), tied it up with bits of wool from my stash.

Gold for the grown ups...

...and red for the children who will be on their own table...

Do you recognise the mushroom, Julie and Val? I knew I'd find a good use for them!

Tuesday, 22 December 2009

I've so enjoyed having time at home this year to get stuck into making loads of hand-made gifts for Christmas. Perhaps this is my vocation. It seems the more I make, the more I want to make and my brain is fit to burst.

One thing I find a complete waste of money is Christmas crackers. Every year we seem to spend a fortune on nice ones, only for me to be left with a little pile of stuff that came out of them to oohs and aahhs but actually, stuff no-one really wanted! Nobody likes to wear the hat - in fact my one never fits me! I've even had a 2 pint jug of gravy being spilt all over the table (and my poor Mum) in a display of strength needed to pull the cracker apart!

SO, this year I thought I would do little table gifts for everyone instead. I'm a glutton for punishment, see.

The boys in my family WILL have my crochet! No2 gave his seal of approval and said I should surprise him with one. I made them into key rings so they could hang them on their school bags! And all the materials came from my stash, so no cost to me other than my time.

Then there came the girls. I could have gone mad and made every single item in this book (maybe one day I will) but I was also dying to make these hearts from Owlishly.

Again, I added a keyring and decorated them with some buttons from my jar. Crochet fascinates me still; it seems there is no end to the things you can create.
Then onto the adults...

Way back in the summer I grabbed some skeins of gorgeous Debbie Bliss Pure Silk in the John Lewis sale. Rather than buy several of one colour, I bought just one skein of several colours. I wish you could put your hand in and feel how wonderfully soft this yarn is.
Then, I saw this little beauty and I knew just what to use it for.

That's the ladies sorted. I have to confess to being stumped as to what to get for the menfolk and have resorted to a scratch card. Of course, if any of them win, I will have half!
Come back tomorrow to see the boxes I've made to put them all in!

Friday, 18 December 2009

It's clinging to the plants in the garden making it all very festive out there.

I know where I'd rather be...

...my house is looking all twinkly and warm.

With a few added splashes of colour this year, courtesy of Habitat. They had some wonderful Christmas decorations, as usual. These pick out all the colours of my glass bunting that I made a couple of years ago.

Including this beaded light curtain that I had hankered for then finally purchased at sale price two whole weeks before Christmas! It was meant to be mine. Thank you, Universe!

For the teenager in the house, there is the perfect bauble.

And for when cooking for 21 - yes, that's right, 21 - on Christmas Day, one for me!

Sunday, 13 December 2009

Ever since I bought this book, I always wanted to make this pencil roll.

Being new to quilting though, I didn't really have enough suitable fabrics to make it without buying each coloured piece specifically. Now that I have been buying fabrics for various different quilts and other projects, my stash has grown and yielded the requirements for this project.

Then I found some bargain pencils in the summer sale...

...and a linen jacket being put in the charity shop bag round at my Mum's...

Wednesday, 9 December 2009

My third and final Christmas quilt is finished and ready for wrapping. I actually finished this a couple of weeks ago - I spent the whole of the first week I was out of hospital hand-quilting it. A nice recuperative job for me to do to aid the healing process. This one is for my middle niece, Rio, who shares a bedroom with Tia so it was important that their quilts went together. Some of the fabrics are the same, but each quilt has some some exclusive to it too.

I used a bright pink gingham for the backing that I originally bought for this quilt because it looked red when I bought it online! Then I spotted the zingy lime binding on a trip to Liberty.

Seeing these three quilts neatly folded is giving me untold joy at the moment. Only equalled by the stacks of fabrics for my next two quilts that I will be starting as soon as Christmas is over.

It is a simple brick-path quilt, probably the easiest quilt I have made so far. I found the pattern here. The light in November was dreadful for photographing this quilt so apologies for terrible photos...

I love the lines of hand-quilting, either side of the seams.

Of course, there were lots of scraps left over so the girls are going to have a little co-ordinating something to have too... I'll show you those tomorrow!